Chapter Text
Jin Ling did not remember his parents. It made sense. He was not even a full year old when they died. He never had a chance to know anything about them all thanks to that ungrateful dog Wei Wuxian!
The only thing Jin Ling had left of his parents was a sword, shreds of stories, and the gaping absence where they should have been.
It's hard to grieve people you never knew but how could Jin Ling not?
He had always longed to have his own memories of his parents. So, when Jin Ling heard rumors of a ghost that forced people to relive their earliest memories, he knew he had to find him. How could he not risk it?
When Jin Ling told Jin Guangyao that he was headed for Lotus Pier to visit early he was barely questioned. Which almost smarted. But it was only to be expected, after all, the Chief Cultivator was far too busy to constantly mind his nephew no matter how much he loved him. Which Jin Guangyao must.
It was effortless to slip out and instead head towards the Lan Sect territories.
Despite his hope Jin Ling half expected the rumor to be bullshit or the ghost to be too dangerous to dare trifle with. He got lucky. The troublesome ghost was an ancient man. Apparently, his memories were slipping decades before he finally kicked the bucket. None of the local gossips were surprised that he lingered after his death, it was quite like him to not even realize that he died, they half joked.
There weren't any deaths, just some very confused travelers. According to one of them the old man wandered up to them needing to know where his A-Niang was. As they reached out to help him, the travelers were abruptly thrust back into their early childhood. Only waking days later.
Buzzing with barely contain joy Jin Ling rushed off to the woods.
The air flickered with falling maple leaves, but Jin Ling didn't pause to admire the scenery or pay any attention to the flickers of white passing overhead. He was going to see his parents!
Jin Ling pulled out his spirit compass. It pointed unwaveringly towards an old half collapsed cabin. Maybe the old man lived here. He kicked open the door, not bothering to knock or hesitating to run across the rotten floorboards.
"Is that you A-Hua? You don't need to come out all the way out here for old me." The ghost said.
He did not look like an old man. He was in his late forties at most and wore the simple robes of a woodchopper. And he smiled when he saw Jin Ling or whoever he thought Jin Ling was.
Jin Ling couldn't remember the last time someone was so unhesitatingly happy to see him. But it was a lie.
"...I'm not Hua. I'm Jin Ling. I am here too- I want to remember my parents. Can you help me? Please"
The ghost’s smile dropped; his form flickered. "What are you talking about? Your father is right here? Let's go to the kitchen..."
Jin Ling had never seen a ghost so concerned. He flinched back.
"You aren't my father! Stop being difficult. I-I just need to remember them."
"Hua! What are you talking about? Why are you lying to me? You can't be telling the truth."
Concern turned to fear, frustration, and choking resentment. His form flickered and suddenly the old man was holding a wood chopper's hatchet.
Roaring in anger he brought it down. Jin Ling dodged strike after strike not wanting to fight back against the man. Far too late Jin Ling realized that he was backed into a corner. Shit. He was finally forced to block.
How could he get out of this without dispersing the man's spirit?
There was a knock at the door.
Outside, patiently waiting to be let in was a Lan junior dressed in immaculate white robes. He knocked once again at the open rotten door.
"Who is it?" The Ghost asked like he was interrupted during a particularly good chapter of a book and not while trying to cut someone’s head off.
"... It's me Ning Yuan. I've come to check up on your daughter A-Naing? I know her birth was a rough one." The Lan lied effortlessly despite there being well over fifty clan rules about lying and deceit.
It worked. The ghost disengaged, drifting towards him his form flickering and becoming even younger and a hundred times more stressed, "Thank you so much for coming! I'm trying to keep her warm but this cold-"
"I know, I know. It's been a terrible winter." The Lan comforted him.
It was autumn!
Slowly the Lan walked towards Jin Ling and grabbed his hand. His eyes tracking the ghost. Jin Ling did not need this stranger's help! But he did not let go.
"She's supposed to be here in the corner! Where is she? Where is my A-Naing?" The ghost cried looking around in confusion. As if he was finally forced to see the ruined rotten carcass of his home.
"I am sure we can find her. I'll start looking outside" The Lan said tugging Jin Ling towards the door.
"Thank you. These childhood memories are so precious to me you know." He smiled and far too fast was right next to them! Grabbing the Lan's hand, "You should get to cherish yours!"
"What!" Jin Ling could only exclaim in anger or shock as everything went black.
He found himself in a place that could not exist. An endless black sea expanding across the horizon. Stars dusted the black sky. And he found himself on a wooden bridge sturdy enough to support fifty people lit only by red lanterns sitting next to the far too composed Lan cultivator.
It was almost beautiful. It felt like death. And like he was intruding somewhere deeply private. Jin Ling was not supposed to be here.
"Where are we? This isn't anyone's childhood memory," Jin Ling shouted trying to remember how to breath, "Who even are you!"
"Right. I'm Lan Sizhui, head disciple of the Lan sect. And you're Jin Rulan, right?"
He nodded.
Lan Sizhui sat down idly kicking his legs back and forth like he was one of the disciples relaxing at Lotus Pier. "It's probably going to be fine. Hanguang-Jun is here too and even if he doesn't come quickly this ghost has no record of any deaths yet. We probably aren't going to be the first."
Jin Ling knew all of that. It's why he came here. He took a deep breath and groaned.
“I should have known that I wouldn’t be able to see my parents. What are yours like.”
“We still don’t know whose memories Liu Yichen will dredge up or if any will be shown at all.” Sizhui pointed out, “Though I wouldn’t be disappointed if they were mine. I can’t remember anything before I was adopted into the Lan Sect by Lan Wangji.”
He stared off into the distance. Dammit. Now Jin Ling had even less reasons to resent him for potentially getting this chance. Which only made Jin Ling more infuriated.
“I bet your parents are just some boring old farmers that were killed in some night hunt. My parents would be so much more interesting and are so much better.”
Jin Ling dropped to the ground not caring how he swayed the bridge, soaking Sizhui’s feet. Sizhui barely glanced in his direction as the ink black sea shifted into the hazy grey of an early morning.
They were in some bedroom that neither of them recognized barely illuminated the hazy red dawn and a single lamp. Two people were curled around a baby that must have been Sizhui. They couldn’t be Jin Ling’s parents. His parents didn’t have long inky black hair and there was no signature Jin yellow or Jiang purple in sight. Jin Ling knew this would be the case, but his hands curled up into fists regardless.
At least Jin Ling wasn’t an ugly screaming baby like Lan Sizhui was.
“I already fed you what more do you want” The mother whispered or more accurately begged.
Baby Sizhui let out another even louder cry.
“You were such a fussy baby” Jin Ling could help but tease.
“Oh, be quiet.” Sizhui said unable to tear his eyes away from the scene as his father carefully picked baby Sizhui back up and started rocking him.
“I’ll take A-Yuan on a walk. Try to get a few hours shut eye before your shift at the hospital dear.” He pressed a kiss to her temple and threw on an outer robe, not bothering to change much else as he clearly fell asleep in his day robes.
Lan Sizhui’s parents were a mess.
Were Jin Ling’s parents kept up at night by his cries too? Jin Rusong had a whole host of nannies and wet nurses. Would Jin Ling only see people paid to put up with him if he were to look back? Was he always alone?
Jin Ling growled and tried not to think of this, trying to focus on anything else.
He was in luck. As he walked alongside Sizhui’s father he could see the first rays of dawn illuminating tents full of soldiers and cultivators, talismans fluttered in the breeze creating defense arrays, and as he walked alongside the wall Jin Ling could glimpse a temporarily abandoned battlefield. They were in a city under siege. Well shit. At least this wouldn’t be boring?
“Well, I guess this explains why I forgot other than the normal childhood amnesia? Kids forget terrible things to protect themselves... except. I should be older. I was adopted when I was four.” Lan Sizhui looked around in confusion.
“What’s weirder is that no one else knows anything. If your parents were in the Sunshot campaign someone must know something about them.” Jin Ling pointed out. People loved talking about old war stories and Shizui’s parents couldn’t be low ranking, they weren’t stationed out in the tents after all. It was weird.
“Commander. Commander!” A rather harried looking messenger cried running towards Sizhui’s father, “We have news! The corpse army has-”
“Shush! You are going to wake the baby. And are you looking to lower morale further? Let's talk inside.” If it wasn’t for the baby nestled in the crook of his arm, Lan Sizhui's father might have managed to look intimidating.
“I’m sorry sir” The messenger bowed deeply.
They turned the corner and Jin Ling could finally see the command center and its flag.
It couldn’t be.
Sizhui was a Lan and even in the brief time they had known each other he was nothing but kind and courteous! But fluttering above atop the building was a red sun, the banner of the greatest oppressors the cultivation world had ever known, the Wen Sect.
"What the fuck!" Jin Ling couldn't help but swear.
Sizhui just looked surprised and almost cautious. He must not know. But there wasn't any disgust either or anger which Jin Ling would expect from anyone learning that they shared blood with a Wen dog. Not for the first time Jin Ling desperately wished that he could read people better.
The world wavered like a stone skipped across its watery surface and Jin Ling once again found himself on a bridge leading into darkness.
"All right... that was unexpected."
"Yeah, it was!" Jin Ling shouted, "You're related to the Wen Sect? But don't the clouds on your ribbon mean that you're directly related to the Lans?"
"I was adopted by Hanguang-Jun." Sizhui said like that was a reasonable explanation.
"Why would he adopt a random Wen orphan? Actually, how? How could you even meet?"
The corner of Qishan that the Wens were confined in wasn't anywhere close to Gusu. Though now that Jin Ling thought about it, Lan Wangji was infamous for traveling where the chaos was and Qishan was certainly full of chaos following the end of the war. But even so it's strange to randomly adopt some stranger's kid.
Just what was going on?
"I don’t know. I need to know what happened next. What even are my parents’ names? Lan Wangji couldn’t tell me.” Lan (Wen?) Sizhui spoke into the darkness as if he expected an answer.
Nothing happened.
"You touched the water. Did that trigger it?"
"Maybe. It did feel odd." Lan Sizhui said staring at the inky sea.
Curious, Jin Ling hesitantly reached out and touched the water with his pinky. It didn’t feel wet despite its wavering reflective surface, instead it felt like dry and powdery earth. Once again, the world rippled.
They were at the gates of the war-torn city. About two hundred or so cultivators, civilians and servants gathered at the gates. Everyone was too old or young to fight. Each carrying pack full of what had to be their most precious possessions and supplies for a long journey. Little A-Yuan was bundled up and carefully tied to the back of a tiny old woman.
His mother fretted around them, "- He gets grumpy so quickly if he doesn't get his afternoon nap and you need to help-"
"I know. I know. Don't worry, you were once a far fussier baby Meihui. I know how to take care of him. You can come too if you're so worried" Granny Wen offered. “You too Wen Shun” She said, glancing towards Sizhui’s father.
Wen Meihui looked like she wanted to cry but still tried for a smile, "You know I can't. Someone has to hold down the fort."
Wen Shun placed a comforting hand on her back, "We'll be okay" He lied, "Now hurry. It is only a matter of time before the corpse army comes. You need to be as far away as possible. You know the way. We will distract them as long as we can."
With the tears in her eyes almost blinding her, Granny Wen turned away. Mounting the waiting horse. What can you possibly say to someone who you might never see again?
"I love you both so much. Please survive."
Wen Shun’s composure finally slipped, "W-we’ll try" He stammered out, grief and fear clogging his throat.
Granny Wen turned away, flicked her reins and the horse sped off. A-Yuan was far too young to even understand anything that was going on, giggling as he tried to touch the horse's mane. Completely unaware that his parents were walking towards their deaths.
"Don't worry A-Yuan. You will survive. I'll make sure nothing happens to you." Granny Wen vowed.
“You did, I think” Lan Sizhui said. Eyes brimming with his own tears, he reached out to brush her's away. It didn’t work. His hand passed through as if he were the ghost. “Thank you.”
The memory ended.
What was Jin Ling supposed to do with that?
It was so easy to forget that the Wen Sect were people. In the stories, they are just Wen dogs. Vicious inhuman beasts that are so unlike everything great about the Sects. They didn’t cry. They didn’t lose sleep trying to comfort a fussing baby. They couldn’t be children and grandparents.
Actually, where were the rest of the children? What happened to them after their sect was killed?
Jin Ling vaguely remembered the Wen remnants were once given a sliver of territory but if you looked at a map now there wasn’t even a dot of Wen red. What happened to them? They couldn’t have been killed. No righteous cultivator would ever do anything like that, and his uncles would never approve. Jin Ling was crazy for even considering it!
The Wen must have all given up their names or something. He would too if he had a name like that! They were fine. You couldn’t just kill everyone, people would object. It wouldn’t be right. The Sects couldn’t have hated the Wen Clan that much...
Sizhui was still quietly crying.
Jin Ling turned away feeling profoundly awkward, but it's not like he could tell him to stop. Lan Sizhui just got his first and last glimpse of his parents. How could he not cry?
Should he comfort him? Somehow?
“Um there, there? It’s going to be okay, eventually? We’ll I guess you know that already you’re here now not dead so please stop crying.” Jin Ling rambled on trying to find the proper words and just finding even more nonsensical ones. Failing to capture even an iota of Jin Guangyao’s comforting charm.
Why did he open his mouth?
Lan Sizhui let out a watery laugh, “I’m okay. You can stop now. I don’t even really know them.”
“... Well, you have the chance to know if you want. Maybe.” Jin Ling said
“Thank you.”
Lan Sizhui wiped his eyes and reached out to touch the memory sea.
A-Yuan was no longer a baby. He could stand on his own two feet but was carried by Granny Wen anyway. Strapped to her back with rough uncomfortable cloth.
“A-Yuan you need to be quiet. It's not safe.” Granny Wen whispered.
A-Yuan abruptly stopped his soft whining for food. It was unnatural. From Jin Ling's brief and terrible experience with them toddlers shouldn't ever shut up so easily, especially when they are clearly hungry. Just what was going on?
He looked around.
They were in a desolate valley whose faces bore the brilliant carvings of a Wen cultivator destroying a great and terrible beast, but Jin Ling had been here before. Those carvings would soon be replaced with ones honoring the Jin Clan.
This was Qiongqi Path.
It wasn't a place people dwelled on anymore. The one time Jin Ling cared enough to ask about it specifically instead of part of the terrible tale of the Yiling Patriarch's heresy he was told that the conditions were better than those Wen dogs deserved.
They didn't mention that there couldn't be a flash of spiritual energy as Wen cultivators chipped away at the carvings honoring their ancestors. They didn't mention the fear in their eyes. They didn't mention the brands in the hands of the Jin overseers. And certainly, never mentioned that there was a grandmother and a toddler there!
This wasn't right. But no matter how much Jin Ling rubbed his eyes the facts remained.
"T-This can't be. That damned Wei Wuxian got an army from here. This must be a lie. Maybe it's all an illusion, right?"
"Everything is more complicated than it seems. Do not blindly trust rumors. Question who they benefit. History is written by the winners" Sizhui numbly recited looking around in shock trying to take everything in.
"S-Shut up! My clan would never do this!" Jin Ling denied even as an overseer wearing the Jin peony approached Granny Wen who had paused for far too long dropping the flag.
She didn’t notice his approach until it was too late.
"What are you stopping for? Pick up your Clan's tattered pride." The overseer demanded. Jin Ling flinched back.
He knew this man. This was Jin Song who alternated between obnoxiously talking about his ‘perfect precious son’ and telling old war stories about that damned Yiling Laozu on how he nearly was killed by him when Jin Song bravely fought back against injustice, even as Jin Ling demanded him to shut the fuck up.
Old Granny Wen rushed to pick the flag back up, but her senses were fading, and her hands trembled in fear. She dropped it instead. It fell, crushing Jin Song's feet.
His face twisted in an anger that Jin Ling had never seen before, and even knowing that nothing could hurt him here, he flinched back. Lan Sizhui rushed to try and push his Granny out of the way. He couldn't do anything.
Viciously the overseer kicked the life out of her like you would a rabid dog. It was all Granny could do to curl up and try to protect A-Yuan.
Jin Ling wanted to throw up. Desperately he tried to pull Jin Song away from her. Someone had to stop this!
"H-Hey! S-stop that!"
For a second Jin Ling wondered if it was Sizhui who yelled that, but the overseer turned to look as one of the Wen prisoners dropped his pack of stones and started walking towards them. The faded flames on his robe might have once marked him as one of the Wen Clan's young masters before they fell to earth. He looked terrified but more than anything this man was furious and has had enough with the Jin’s cruelty.
Jin Ling felt a faint hope. Maybe he could stop this?
"Wanting to play the hero Wen dog?" Jin Song sneered.
"Stop h-hurting her." Was all he could stutter out as his hands curled into fists. He took a deep breath and continued, "I d-didn't know that you ever met Wen Chao. T-that was a perfect im-imitation of his words and actions, sir. You would get along well."
Jin Ling hissed. That was the worst thing he could have said no matter how true it was, in fact, it was all the more infuriating if it was true. There was no way they could pacify Jin Song now... except they never had a chance at that did they? He had already decided that someone was going to get hurt. All this lone Wen cultivator could do was direct his fury to someone who could survive it. Himself.
Jin Songs face twisted in fury as he kicked the Wen cultivator to the floor. Jin Ling couldn't look. Turning around he faced Granny instead. Her face was bruised and streaked with dust and tears. Jin Ling closed his eyes.
He didn't want to see this. He didn't want to know this. He wanted to wake up.
"A-Ning!" Was the last thing Jin Ling heard before everything before the bright noon sun vanished and they were once again on the dream like bridge between Sizhui's childhood memories.
"T-that was a lot." Sizhui said, still trying to regulate his breathing, despite that he still asked, "Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be!" Jin Ling shouted, "My uncle is lying to me about our clan's history! Jin Guangyao had to know but he didn't even try to stop it! H-he wouldn't do that. Maybe this is all a dream or an illusion. That ghost must be lying to us drawing on our despair!"
Sizhui tried to touch his shoulder, but Jin Ling slapped his hand away.
"I don't think this is an illusion Jin Ling. In all previous instances the memories shown were accurate and proven to be in line with reality. And this makes too much sense." Sizhui said like a crazy person, "A lot of stuff Hanguang-Jun told me fits with this and these people... they feel familiar. And if it makes you feel better there is no way that just the Jin family is in on something this big. If the other's Sects don't know it's because they don't want to."
"That's worse!"
"I know I know" Sizhui said waving his hands, "I'm trying to say that your clan isn't uniquely horrible."
"...Thanks. I guess your birth family and clan weren't all terrible either."
Lan Sizhui nodded and fell quiet at the mention of his family. Were they going to have to watch Granny Wen die too? No. Sizhui got out somehow, they must have escaped this terrible place.
Jin Ling took a gamble. Sizhui said he wanted to learn his parents' names and in the next memory he learned them. Hopefully that wasn't a coincidence.
"I want to know how you left."
He touched the sea.
It was raining. The slow depressing drizzle was only making conditions worse. Once again, they watched as Granny made her way holding aloft the desecrated flag of the Wen Clan.
Jin Ling's heart sank. He did not want to see this again.
"Granny! It's me!" Some stranger called running up towards Granny. She looked haggard like she had been running all night and day to reach here though Jin Ling had no idea why anyone would want to do that. Especially when they wore Wen red robes.
Granny flinched back and held the flag straighter. Between the rain and her failing eyesight and the rain, Jin Ling doubted that she could recognize the shouting stranger in front of her.
"What is this? What are you doing!" She said, wrenching the flag from Granny Wen's grasp.
Oh no! Jin Ling did not want to see this weird intruding probably Wen die, or get Granny in trouble. He looked over to Sizhui and found that he was looked at her with almost recognition? And he wandered over to study the young black robed man trailing behind their rightfully frantic companion like a bodyguard.
Granny Wen finally recognized the person in front of her, "Wen Qing?"
Wen Qing? Like the infamous immoral doctor who was Wen Rohan's personal physician and the Yiling Patriarch's second in command? It couldn't be. This couldn't have been the way things went. The Yiling patriarch didn't have a shred of moral character and betrayed everyone he met. He wouldn't be one to save anyone. His army was evil!
Despite this Jin Ling found his gaze being drawn towards the man who followed in Wen Qing’s wake. His gaze swept his surroundings and he seemed to barely notice the falling rain soaking him. The frown on his face didn't suit him. This couldn't be the Patriarch.
"Granny where's A-Ning? Where are Fourth uncle and the others? Where's A-Ning?"
Granny could only point in the direction of the valley. Wen Qing dashed off in that direction. Jin Ling was not getting left behind. He followed her. Even as they left A-Yuan's sights the memory held somehow. Jin Ling was too relieved to care how that worked.
Sizhui kept pace with Wen Qing's companion. Looking weirdly at ease by his side.
"Where'd you come from? Who let you trespass here?"
"I'm looking for someone. Please, I'm looking for someone!" Wen Qing pleaded desperately.
The overseer, Jin Song, rode over, pulling something long and thin from his pack. Jin Ling really hoped she had a plan. "I don't care if you are, get outta here! If you don't-"
Jin Song stopped suddenly seeing the young man behind her. His eyes were cold, and Jin Song shuddered in fear lowering his brand. The man's eyes followed the weapon.
All the overseers pulled back. No one dared stop Wen Qing for some fucking reason. Actually, as Wen Qing ran calling for her little brother Wen Ning Jin Ling found that he had a pretty damn good guess as to why. It all had to do with their companion.
So, this was the face of his parents’ murderer, Jin Ling thought numbly. He looked nothing like the drawings.
No one answered Wen Qing's pleas. Jin Ling knew very well why. Her brother was dead except in all the ways that mattered. Wen Qing ran back questioning the overseers on where her little brother could possibly be. And they supposedly knew nothing.
"I know he's here for sure!"
"Don't fret Miss. To be honest, representatives from various clans often come to ask for cultivators. Maybe he was taken by one of them. Or maybe he ran away." Jin Song lied.
Why wouldn't they just tell her the truth, that Wen Ning died in an accident? Surely no one could forget that incident?
"He would never do that." Wen Qing insisted, "Granny and the others are all still here."
"Why don't you look around for him again. Take your time. Everyone we have is here. If you can't find him in this valley, I don't know what to tell ya"
The Yiling Laozu finally spoke, "Everyone is here?"
His voice was far more melodic than Jin Ling expected, nothing like the harsh and deep voices the particularly playful storytellers used for him. But something about his tone was terrifying. The overseers stiffened.
"Yeah"
"All right. I'll grant you that the living are here at least, so what about the rest?”
Lan Sizhui gasped, and Wen Qing swayed on her feet.
"Don't say that sir. Even though it's only Wen cultivators here no one would dare take a life." Jin Song spoke far too fast, trying to get Wei Wuxian to believe him.
Even without future knowledge Jin Ling knew that Wei Wuxian had already understood the truth of the matter. He picked up his dizi and blew a single note that pierced the night sky.
"The hell flute Chenqing!" Someone shouted and suddenly the captive Wen ran. A circle clearing around them. The only people foolish enough to stay were the overseers and soon they too would realize what a mistake that was.
People shrieked in further alarm clearing a path for dozens of figures. They were tall and short, rotting and terribly injured. Leading the pack was the kind Wen cultivator that tried to help Granny. Jin Ling wanted to sob. They didn't even have the decency to close his eyes in death.
He couldn't be alive. But that didn't stop Wen Qing from trying to feel for a pulse. She wailed, sobbing as she clutched what could only be her little brother that she was too late to save. Her sobs were ugly, there was no beauty to be found in her grief.
Wen Ning was dead, and Jin Ling realized what a tragedy that was.
Unable to bear the weight of her grief, Wen Qing fainted into Wei Wuxian's arms. He caught her without comment letting her lean against him. Supporting her completely.
"Who killed him?" Wei Wuxian spoke as if he wasn't filled with murderous rage and was instead merely thinking out loud.
"Wei-gongzi, please don't speak irresponsibly. No one here would dare kill another human being so lightly. He was the one who didn't take care while working and rolled down the hill to his death." Jin Song lied.
These fools had it coming.
"How shameless! You didn't even close Wen Ning's eyes let alone give him a proper burial!" Sizhui shouted only his Lan manners and the knowledge it wouldn’t matter stopping him from punching the man.
"No one here would dare kill another human being so lightly." Wei Wuxian parroted, "Is that true?"
The overseers all swore that it was. Not only was his sect cruel, and rewriting history, but apparently, they were all without a lick of sense as well! As if the Yiling Patriarch wouldn’t know how someone died. Denying it will only make things worse!
Wei Wuxian flashed a small smile, "I see. I get it. It's because they are Wen dogs and Wen dogs aren't human. So, killing them doesn't count- that's what you all meant, right?"
That was such twisted cruel and frankly crazy reasoning that shouldn’t hold up for a second under the light, but Jin Song paled as Wei Wuxian saw through his every thought.
"Or did you think that I wouldn't be able to tell how someone died?" He continued unhurried.
The crowd of overseers feel silent finally realizing the danger they were in. To think all these idiots managed to survive their first night hunt. With instincts like this they could mistake a ghost for a human. Wei Wuxian was going to kill them all! And that no longer seemed like an injustice or much of a tragedy.
"At this point you'd better just tell the truth. Who killed him? Step forward on your own, or I'll have no choice to kill everyone here. I'd rather kill someone by mistake than let the culprit off the hook. No fish will slip through the net if you are all dead." He threatened.
Jin Ling shivered. But someone would speak up. He didn't kill all the overseers here after all Jin Song somehow survived and that was definitely not due to his ‘heroic courage’ like he bragged.
One fool tried to reason with him bringing up politics. As if that would stay the Yiling Patriarch's hand. No one stepped forward.
"Congratulations. You have successfully exhausted my patience. Since none of you will tell me let's hear his answer." Wei Wuxian didn't even have to blow a note as the Ghost General jerked forward grabbing two overseers by the throat lifting them high into the air.
They were unable to even beg for their lives and Jin Ling knew that they weren't getting out of this alive.
"Wei-gonzi, Wei-gonzi! Have mercy! Sir, your impulsive actions will have irreversible consequences!" The chief overseer begged.
As the rain poured around them Wei Wuxian looked like he knew that very well, but Jin Ling couldn’t tell exactly what he felt about that. Resignation maybe? Wei Wuxian didn't hesitate to whirl around placing a hand on Wen Ning's shoulder.
"Wen Qionglin!"
He roared in answer, deafening onlookers, hurting even Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui's ears.
"Make everyone who did this to you suffer the exact same fate. I give you permission to repay them in kind!" The Yiling Patriarch ordered.
Immediately the Ghost General bashed the two overseers against each other, their heads bursting like watermelons. Bits of blood and bone and gore scattered around them. Jin Ling always thought he had iron nerves, you had to if you wanted to be a cultivator, but this was something else.
Jin Song ran like the coward he was. It was the only way he could survive to tell stories of his grandeur and righteous courage. Jin Ling hated him. When he became Sect leader...
Nonchalantly Wei Wuxian picked Wen Qing back up like nothing was wrong even as Wen Ning continued to crush the overseer's bones to bloody paste behind them. Wei Wuxian was about to get a horse and maybe leave when a prisoner pointed towards a shack where... they locked people up and beat them. Most died.
Was that was killed Wen Ning? Why would anyone make such a place?
After politely thanking the prisoner Wei Wuxian walked towards there. Kicking open the door. Inside were a dozen people, all of them badly battered and beaten. They seemed to forget all that when they saw Wen Qing in Wei Wuxian's arms.
One of the captives like he would fistfight him shouting, "You... Who are you? What have you done to the Chief Officer!"
"Nothing" Wei Wuxian answered honestly, confirmed that they once served under Wen Ning, and led them out.
"No, our Wen Ning-gongzi." One man protested looking around for him. Just before a human head was hurled past him by their once gentle leader. It would be almost comical if it wasn't so terrifying.
"Enough! Up" Wei Wuxian commanded and Wen Ning reluctantly obeyed.
"What are you all waiting for!" He yelled towards the frightened prisoners, “Get on the horses! Or are you waiting for me to find you some swords to fly on?!”
Amidst the growing chaos of the prison camp, they mounted horses. Having to ride two or three to a horse. One of the prisoners led A-Yuan and Granny over and they struggled to hold on. Her time in the camps weakened Granny far more than the passage of time ever could hope to.
Noticing their struggle Wei Wuxian picked up the child out of her hands much to Granny's terror. Little A-Yuan snuck glances at Wei Wuxian. If he was scared, by now he knew better than to cry and wasn’t that awful.
"It's okay. It's safe" Lan Sizhui tried to comfort them, "He won't hurt you. He’ll help."
"What are you talking about!" Jin Ling shouted as the memory blurred around them, "The Yiling Patriarch is a monster! He betrayed and killed my mother and father, slaughtered everyone at Nightless City. Everything was his fault! Even if- Even if my sect was terrible that doesn't mean that he's suddenly good!"
"Maybe. But he isn't a danger to these people." Sizhui said, like that was somehow a reasonable conclusion to draw from all this.
Even from the memory they were shown, the Yiling Patriarch was nothing but terrifying. You would be a fool to trust him.
"Why are you like this!" Jin Ling demanded, "Why are you so- so calm and reasonable and kind? Why don't you hate him? Hell in that other memory he probably killed your parents too!"
"I don't know? And what's even the point of hating a man that has been dead for so long." Lan Sizhui said looking at Jin Ling like he was the strange one.
"How can I not hate him! He killed my parents!" Jin Ling insisted.
"I don't want to fight about this. We won't agree." Sizhui said suddenly seeming exhausted, "But for some reason I can't help but feel safe with him taking everyone away."
"You are crazy."
"... Maybe. But let's see." Sizhui said kicking the water splashing Jin Ling.
He sputtered as the world shifted once again.
Black and jagged trees cut the sky above. Jin Ling choked on the sheer resentment in the air. He hadn't felt anything like this before even when they had to exorcise that sunken ship. He shouldn't have been surprised. The burial mounds are the greatest grave of all, there was nowhere you could place a shovel that wouldn't dig up a corpse.
That part at least the stories got right.
What they didn't get right was the presence of a toddler happily playing in its corpse rich dirt. Off in the distance Jin Ling could see the foundations of humble homes and temporary tents. Fierce corpses peacefully tilled the soil preparing crops. People forgot to mention that too.
Even if Sizhui lacked all sense he was a very cute toddler. It couldn’t have been that long since the camps, but his cheeks were already rosier, and he was no longer afraid. Jin Ling stepped closer and paled as he saw exactly what A-Yuan was playing with.
It was a skeletal human hand.
Long thin bones were stacked to create a log house, digits were used to mimic people milling about, and arm bones were used as boundaries. A-Yuan giggled as he clicked two finger bones together.
No wonder this kid grew up to be crazy.
"What the fuck."
Sizhui looked around seeming almost nostalgic, "I guess this explains why I don't find fierce corpses disturbing? Childhood exposure and all that."
No wonder his sense of danger was found shot dead in some alley.
"A-Yuan!" The Yiling Patriarch shouted and if he were anyone else Jin Ling might think it was because he was terrified to find a child playing alone in what was clearly still a dangerous area.
A-Yuan looked up suddenly scared.
Perhaps noticing that Wei Wuxian's attitude shifted into something far calmer, a gentle smile dancing on his lips. He plopped down crisscross applesauce next to A-Yuan looking only mildly concerned about his choice in toys.
"What are you doing all the way out here? Granny has been missing you."
"Playing." A-Yuan said showing him his favorite finger bones.
Wei Wuxian nodded looking oddly at A-Yuan. Using one of his draping gray sleeves he rubbed off the dirt on A-Yuan's hands revealing the spiraling black curse mark trailing up his arms.
Shit.
"... I see. It’s good that you are having fun, but you really can’t play with other people’s things." Which was took some audacity saying, coming from the infamous grave robber and necromancer.
"No one wants them. They were in the dirt." A-Yuan stated more confused than scared.
"Yes, I know but our dear friend is rather foolish and there're very angry. People like that are impossible to reason with. So! We are going to have to make sure that they don't know you took their bones." Wei Wuxian leaned in closer whispering conspiratorially to him.
A-Yuan nodded scooting closer to him.
Jin Ling choked. This wasn't how he expected things to go at all. The Yiling Laozu wasn’t supposed to be good with children!
Sizhui merely laughed smiling as he watched the greatest scrooge of the cultivation word try and break his child self's curse mark. Jin Ling couldn't even fault him for that. It was bizarre and comical to watch.
First Wei Wuxian 'fingerpainted' signals in blood along A-Yuan's arms. Then he stuck various talismans to A-Yuan's face which only made him giggle more. Wei Wuxian clicked his tongue irritated that nothing worked even as he didn't make the slightest attempt at using spiritual energy. Which was incredibly effective at dispelling curse marks.
Was he so arrogant in his demonic path that he wouldn't even deign to use spiritual energy to help a child?
Running out of options Wei Wuxian held A-Yuan's hand taking a deep breath as the black curse shifted onto his skin instead. He smiled, "There all better!"
What.
"But then they'll be after you!" A-Yan cried.
"Aiyah I'll be fine a little curse like this can't hurt me!" He ruffled A-Yuan's hair, "Let's get back to camp."
They walked back to camp at a brisk pace. A-Yuan clinging to Wei Wuxian’s legs.
Wen Qing sat next to Granny, the two of them were talking about how to grow various medical herbs. And looked almost light and almost happy in this mass grave. Or maybe that was just because Jin Ling was comparing this scene to their terrible grieving state at Qiongqi path. Anything would be an improvement.
Granny bolted upright upon noticing the Yiling Patriarch next to her beloved grandchild.
Wei Wuxian waved hello revealing his new curse mark.
"Where were you A-Yuan! You aren't supposed to wander off." Granny said bundling A-Yuan up in a hug shooting Wei Wuxian confused and fearful looks.
"What happened? You were gone for a few minutes." Wen Qing said grabbing his hands, spiritual energy glowing.
It did nothing to dispel the curse mark.
"It's fine now but A-Yuan here wandered off, played with some bones and got cursed. Figures we wouldn't be able to babyproof the Burial Mounds in three days." Wei Wuxian responded.
"A-Yuan! You can't play with bones at all, you understand! You need to stay close." Granny said squeezing A-Yuan into a bone crushing hug, "T-Thank you."
"It's nothing." Wei Wuxian waved her off. "Now. Want to help me learn more about our angry friend?" He pulled out the finger bone and offered Wen Qing his clarity bell.
"Empathy?" Wen Qing said piecing it together first.
Empathy was as dangerous as it was effective. It left you completely vulnerable to outside threats and if things went wrong, you could be possessed or worse! Jin Ling heard all kinds of horror stories. You needed a reliable spotter and it's only to be done in a safe place.
It wasn't something to be done casually, surrounded by people who all had very good reason to fear you in the burial mounds.
Yet seemingly without a second thought Wei Wuxian handed Wen Qing his clarity bell and slumped back against the tree stump. Eyes moving back and forth seeing something no one else could.
"Is he okay?" A-Yuan said looking worried.
"He is..." Granny tried to figure out what to say a complicated expression on her face, "He's trying to help us. He'll be okay."
Wen Qing settled down opposite him studying him for the slightest sign things were going wrong. Wei Wuxian was right to trust her. Before Jin Ling could even notice something was wrong, she rang the bell snapping him out of it.
Still a little dazed Wei Wuxian waved everyone off, "Well it seems that A-Yuan was lucky!"
"What!" Granny, Wen Qing, And Jin Ling shouted.
A-Yuan and Sizhui perked up at that.
"Yeah! People have been wondering for ages what the great battle of the Burial Mounds was about, and A-Yuan here stumbled upon the hand of its most bloody general. And oh boy was the battle for such a stupid reason." He rolled his eyes.
“Please elaborate on that?” Sizhui as if such ancient history was important now of all times.
"How's that lucky! Such a vicious ghost is after you." Wen Qing said, seeming to be genuinely concerned for his safety "Why are you acting like this is funny!"
"Because it is? Besides I can't help but be reminded of that old question Lan Qiren proposed way back when" He smiled, stretching, and getting to his feet, "Liberate, suppress, and disperse was the proper answer for a situation like this. He got so mad when I suggested my heretical fourth option." Wei Wuxian snickered.
"No wonder Lan Qiren never liked him." Lan Sizhui said looking at the bane of the cultivation world with far too much fondness.
How did Wei Wuxian not get kicked out of the cloud recesses sooner. And how did Sizhui stay with such cloudy judgement!
"Of course, back then it was just a simple thought exercise I proposed to get kicked out of class. Never thought I'd really, ah, how did I put it? Step off the broad avenue under the sky." He pulled Chenqing out of his belt.
Jin Ling shouldn't be surprised at all that the Yiling Patriarch didn't always know the path he would grow up to create. Everyone was a kid at some point. But Jin Ling just never had to wonder why that man did anything until now. He was given answers. The Yiling Patriarch was a terrible and immoral white eyed wolf who betrayed everyone he met. Taking the proper path was never an option for a man like that.
Those old answers didn’t seem to quite fit the man in front of him.
Wei Wuxian turned around like he heard something. "Tell everyone to stay within the encampment." He ordered and marched off.
Raising Chenqing to his lips, he started to play.
This part the rumors got right.
His music was divine. Better than any of the Koi tower's performers and as eerie as a siren luring you towards the watery depths. The burial mounds stirred. The ground under their feet twisting and shifting as nefarious creatures woke beneath them. The tune shifted in turn. Slowly an army was selected. Each soldier wore broken armor that once was gilded.
No wonder he could defeat armies.
Off in the distance a broken skeleton charged towards them. His form only kept together by sheer unending rage and never able to rest because of it.
"Take your revenge." Wei Wuxian ordered.
As a centuries old battle was once again fought Wei Wuxian climbed a tree waiting for it to be over. Seemingly exhausted. Or maybe he was just no longer hiding just how tired he was.
And the memory ended.
The subject of the cultivation world's unending anger, and his jiujiu's unending obsession and hatred was good with children and would put himself in harm's way to protect them. In the face of what he has later done that shouldn't matter at all.
It shouldn't make such a drastic difference that that he left to protect the innocent, and that they were building a new home and growing new life in a place of death. But it did.
If he ignored everything he was taught. Jin Ling could believe that they just wanted to live here in peace.
Except what did it mean then that this fragile home would be razed to the ground with his jiujiu leading the charge?
"He couldn't have known right? Jin Ling almost pleaded, "My uncle couldn't have known that they were all innocent. That you were there. I- I bet that Wei-dog didn't tell him! That's why this happened! If he just explained my uncle would definitely help, and then things would be fine. No one would need to die. Right?"
"I don't know." Sizhui answered, "My memories might not even have the answer. You’ll have to ask Jiang Wanyin his reasons."
Jin Ling did not want to talk about this with his uncle. It was too much. He couldn’t trust that...
He kicked the black lake.